Freeze Hurts Some Crops, Spares Others, Farmers Say

February 28, 1989|By Jerry Jackson of The Sentinel Staff

From early-season blueberries to late-winter carrots, Florida's specialty crops were pounded by the weekend freeze. Farmers and agriculture officials checking the damage Monday, however, said it will take a week or more to make a full evaluation.

Fred Saunders, president of the Florida Blueberry Growers Association, said the early-season fruit on his 9-acre farm near Clermont was virtually wiped out.

''We may be able to salvage 10 percent of the crop,'' he said. ''It's just devastating, because it looked like we were going to have such a good year. The blueberries were about a month ahead of time,'' he said, because of unseasonably mild weather before the freezing temperatures blew into Florida on Friday and Saturday.

Saunders said reports from North Florida, where the bulk of the state's blueberry crop is grown, indicate a loss of all the early fruit.

He said the annual Florida blueberry festivals in May in Ocala and Gainesville might have to be canceled as a result of the freeze damage. Florida has about 1,500 acres of blueberries, much of it new plantings. Growers before the freeze had been expecting a harvest of about 3 million pounds, double last year's total, but far short of industry leader Michigan's annual harvest of 55 million pounds.

Florida's bigger and better-known crops such as citrus and strawberries survived temperatures that dipped briefly into the mid- and upper 20s. Strawberries ripe for harvest were sprayed with water to form a protective ice coating. Citrus blooms were widely damaged, possibly reducing next year's crop.

Vegetable farms in the Zellwood area of Orange and Lake counties reported a wide range of damage, from total losses of some crops to others that appeared to escape unscathed.

Young carrots at Lust Farms Inc. near Zellwood were devastated by the cold and wind, for example, while the farm's sweet corn had not yet broken the surface and probably survived, said Irv Sharpless, sales manager for the farm.

At the nearby farm of A. Duda & Sons Inc., damage was generally judged to be ''moderate,'' said Don McAllister, a spokesman for the Oviedo-based operation. With annual sales of about $200 million, it is one of Florida's largest agribusinesses. ''We actually won't know for probably five to seven days'' the extent of what can be salvaged or will need replanting, McAllister said. Unlike growers of citrus and other fruits, who get a shot at only only one crop a year, vegetable farmers often grow three or more crops and can replant after a freeze.

Just how much the freeze may affect retail food prices is unclear. Some of the more seriously damaged crops statewide included cucumbers, squash, tomatoes and potatoes, according to the Florida Agricultural Statistics Service.

Veteran Zellwood-area grower Billy Long, owner of Long Farms Inc., said the mercury dipped to 13 degrees in one cold spot on his farm, which lost 150 acres of young carrots. Radishes, potatoes and cabbage also were hurt, but the farm's sweet corn has not germinated and is expected to survive.